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Monday, December 22, 2008

Wow, this blog started with just our can tab projects, but has now taken on all our crafting. So, I have decided to separate them into their own blogs.

PLEASE NOTE: I will be keeping this blog open for all my miscellaneous goings on in the crafting world, but the can tab and knitting projects will be moved to their own blogs to make it easier to navigate. I will try to keep links between them to make it easier to find things.

Hope this is not an inconvenience to anyone. Let me know if you have any suggestions that would make the transition better.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

After receiving this adorable House Elf Poppet for the Harry Potter Holiday Swap on craftster.org...

...mom decided to try her hand at a poppet. She decided to make a Cornish Pixie Poppet.

Here he is attaching the dog!

This is her first attempt where she did NOT read the instructions that came with the pattern (pattern/instructions) and did everything the hard way. :) I helped her attached the jointed legs/arms and the head. We are still working on the wings. I will be posting her second attempt trying this pattern following the correct instruction soon.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

I finally sent out my Harry Potter Holiday Swap package to my partner! (Click here to go directly to my creations.) I decided to recreate a few items that might be found in various Diagon Alley shops for the Harry Potter Swap I joined recently. I also created a custom Hogwarts letter for my partner asking her as McGonagall to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.

This is the last item I included in my Harry Potter swap. I was least impressed with this one. My partner had wisted some wool dread falls that were really nice looking, but having no wool available, I found a tutorial on making acrylic dreads. Lets just say, it really takes a lot of time to make these. And, I'm not really sure if my partner will actually even wear them. :)

These dread falls are made from acrylic yarn that has been brushed and mamed into dreads. You have to boil the dreads to get them to hold together. I experimented with many different things while making them. There aren't enough of the ones I made to really create the look. So, she will have to finish making more, herself. Hehe.

I might eventually make my daughter some or make some for a future costume.

I really wanted to make a Hogwart's letter for my partner. However, like myself, she is a bit older than wizarding school age. I decided to either make her a "continuing education student" or an instructor at the school. Well, I finally opted for the instructor for the Defense Against the Dark Arts, since there is now an opening for the position. :)

The letter is addressed from McGonagall, requesting that my partner accept the position. I printed it on some old resume paper I had and used an envelope I'd had left over from my high school graduation invites. Yes, I keep everything! I made the seal out of polymer clay and melted a red crayon for the wax. In this case a cheapo generic crayon worked best. It stuck to the paper better and had less oil in it.

After making the blood quill, I thought I needed to add some parchment to write on, of course. So, I got out some 11x17" paper and started to age it. After many attempts at getting the right look, I found that instant coffee with a little yellow food coloring worked the best to get a rich warm aged look that parchment has. I was told to bake the paper on a low setting until dry. This worked really well. Repeating the process several times on the same paper gives a more convincing look. I also experimented with the brown packing paper and using green food coloring. This was another really fun and easy project. I will definitely be making more later.

Next item from the Harry Potter swap is one of my favorites. I made a blood quill from Scribbulus Ink. I made several of these out of a cheap pack of black feathers, some red ball-point pens and some string. Very easy project that is really fun to use.

I just removed the barrel of the pen, clip the end of the feather to the desired width and insert the pen into the feather. Then, wrapped some black string around to make a nice handle portion of the feather and added some silver string to the top and bottom for accent.

The box was made from a cereal box and painted/decorated.

There is a funny story about this quill. My sister and her family were visiting and I showed them one of the quills. She slyly wrote on the back of her hand and then got our two 6year-olds' attentions. She started writing "I must not..." on some paper then grabbed her wrist and lifted back her sleeve. The two kids' eye went wide open in amazement. Hehe Then, one of them grabbed the quill and started writing on the same paper. She kept looking at her own hand to see if anything would appear. We were all rolling on the floor!

The second item I made for the Harry Potter swap was a set of mini wands made out of bamboo chopsticks and some polymer clay complete with box and certificate of autenticity. I was inspired by an idea gypsylakat had on the renaissancefestival.com website. She is making hairsticks from from the bamboo chopsticks to sell at her school. Hers are not wands, though.

I made one Severus Snape wand and one Draco Malfoy with dangly charms, which were earrings I had around since I was in high school. The wands are supposed to be from a limited edition Slytherin House set from Olivanders.

I made the wand box out of what looks like to be a wooden drawer. I added a lid made from a painted cereal box.